Wife and MUM 6/2011

Wednesday 23 February 2011

At tea time today, at the coffee table, something prompted me to ask Irene if she knows of any religion where it is recorded in their scriptures that their followers sing to their God. Irene replied that she cannot speak for others but she knows that in the Holy Bible (Irene is a Christian), there are many passages that records spontaneous and scheduled out-pouring of praise in the forms of hymns that praise God.

For someone who had attended only 4 years of schooling in her life, this is quiet a profound statement. It means she reads her Bible. Anyone who can read and write with only four years of schooling is an illustrious person. I have witness others who had attended ten years of formal schooling and can hardly read and write.

Coming back to the subject of singing.  

Why do you sing to your God? I asked.

I sing to acknowledge Him as God. I sing to praise Him.

I sing to say I depend on Him for my very existence.

She went on to tell me that she does not agree with many of her friends logic of believing in themselves. “If I do not work who is going to feed me”.

What makes Irene a Christian? Who invites her to be a Christian?

Some 15 years ago, Irene saw an advertisement in the newspaper that says that ladies are invited for a breast scan for cancer and the cost is RM 50.00. She and her niece responded to the advertisement and was directed to a private clinic where a family physician went about giving them an ultra-sound scan. Back then (15 years back) ultra sound scan for breast was not common.

The Doctor, then showed her pictures of her breast scan and told her that the photos were unclear and there is the possibility of lumps (and by implication “CANCER”). That was a big blow. She said she felt as though she was knock by a big one ton hammer. Her life crumpled and she could not sleep and felt that this world is not her world. She is not part of this world. She probably lost 20 pounds in a week, and that was very visible to her relatives, friends and colleagues. In the meantime she consulted other doctors and was told that the diagnosis is not correct as she has dense breast tissues. That was a relief but did not quiet stop her from rejecting the original diagnosis. In the two weeks when she consulted other doctors she also went to church. She has been to churches before but this is not quiet the return of the prodigal son. Irene was brought up in a Buddhist environment and going to church is certainly not the norm for her.

One day, she was totally exhausted and she had cried until she could cry no more. She knelt down and say “Jesus, if you say you are God, reveal yourself to me. Now I open my heart to you and you reveal yourself to me and tell me who you are?”

Wham! in that instance, she felt a power covering her, embracing her and a sense of total peace comes over her. Tears flows and she cannot stop those tears. When this whole phenomenon had completed, she felt she belong to Jesus and that He is her LORD, GOD and SAVIOR.
That’s her experience and she had not looked back since.

I complete today’s post with a picture of Irene, me and Benjamin (born in January 2011). 

No 7 attribute of a great wife: Believe that God is her strength.

Cheers.
See you next week.

I welcome any comments. Do subscribe to this blog. It is FUN to have you with me.

Papa Coaching

Visit my other blog on life and executive coaching + retiring in bliss

http://liveinsignificance.wordpress.com

Visit my website www.papacoaching.com.my

Wife and MUM 5/2011

Sunday 20 February 2011

Last week I told you that Irene is meticulous, detailed, takes pride and initiative in what she does. What can I say this week?

Charles Spurgeon the famous evangelist said that "A true wife is her husband's better half, his lump of delight, his flower of beauty, his guardian angel, and his heart's treasure."

WOW! Is Irene all these?

Irene is certainly a better half. From the perspective of food she is great. She is a good cook. She tastes a cooked dish and can make suggestions as to what ingredients to be added to enhance the blend in taste. She would describe the mismatched in taste between two or more ingredients as a battle for the approval of the various taste buds of our mouth. Her analogy fascinates both me and our daughter and it would set our daughter laughing.

Irene would also tell us and suggests to herself what ingredients to deduct from the recipe. She would say “I will try this tomorrow or next week or some date she figures is the right time. The right time could well be a day when she can serve the dish to 5 persons or 20 persons depending on the dish, the ingredients and the recipe.

How she did become a great cook is really what makes her a better half.

I recall that on the first month of the first year of our marriage Irene cooked “Mee Swa” in Hokkien or “Mein Seen” in Cantonese, a kind of noodle one morning before we leave for work. She dressed up the dish (she is a very artistic individual) with strips of pork and vegetables. It looks delicious. I sat down and eagerly tackle the food in front of me. On removal of the pork and vegetables is a lump of sticky noodle much like a cake of white mud splash on top of the bowl floating on soup gravy and covered with pork and vegetables. It was a labour of LOVE.

Being a good husband I waited for her to get out of the kitchen and then threw the food into the dustbin. When she came back into the kitchen she spotted that I had finished the bowl of noodle. I say “Nice”.
Well, never mess with the intelligence of a woman. I never knew how good, great and gracious she was until she told my sister about this incident some twenty five years later.
She narrated the incident to my sister. She said “I saw that he had finished the food and I was surprised. How can a big bowl of noodle be consumed within such a short time. So when he got out of the kitchen I open the dustbin and there was the lump of noodle” We all had a good laugh.

So what makes her a better half? She has the temperament, the intelligence and the patience to rise above her pride to be the BETTER half. Better is not only measured in quantity. The quality is more important.

No 6 attribute of a great wife: Ability to laugh at herself.

Yes, borrowing from Charles Spurgeon, Irene is truly my better half, my lump of delight, my flower of beauty, my guardian angel, and my heart's treasure.

Cheers.
See you next week.

I welcome any comments. Do subscribe to this blog. It is FUN to have you with me.

Papa Coaching

Visit my other blog on life and executive coaching + retiring in bliss

http://liveinsignificance.wordpress.com

Visit my website www.papacoaching.com.my

Wife and MUM 4/2011

Friday 11 February 2011

Sorry folks. I am late by one day in posting this week.

This brings to mind the poem - BOSS

When I take a long time, I am slow.
When my boss takes a long time, he is thorough.

When I don't do it, I am lazy.
When my boss doesn't do it, he is too busy.

When I do something without being told, I am trying to be smart.
When my boss does something without being told, that is initiative.

When I please my boss, I am “polishing”.
When my boss pleases his boss, he's co-operating.

When I do something good, my boss never remembers.
When I do wrong, he never forgets.

Distinctions such as slow-thorough; lazy-busy; remembers-forgets are two sides of the same coin.

My house – sorry, my wife’s house - is really very "new", clean and tidy even after 32 years of living in it. My neighbors and friends would envy and admire the ability of Irene to keep the house spic and span. 

So is Irene fussy or detailed. 

Well, I sees her as a person who is meticulous and takes pride and initiative in what she does.

What makes me say that?

Look at the house and the things in the house. It is like original. 

Does that mean she is paranoid about cleanliness and will not use her things. No.  

How then did she manage to keep her belongings in such good condition?


Well, she screams (oops! I told you a secret. She screams sometimes and not that often) when the floor is dusty and the feet feels sticky, like walking on mud or oil when she enters the house. She feels embarrassed when the house is scattered with newspaper on the floor or not neatly folded on the table should a guest be coming. Therefore to keep her blood pressure at a manageable level she cleans the toilet, scrub the floors, wash the windows and also the car (lucky me) on a regular basis. In short she is a meticulous person who ensures that the property is maintained with planned scheduled cleaning. She ensures everything from cooking utensils, curtains, floors, toilets, rooms, beds, furniture, etc, etc is washed, polished, steamed – and whatever it takes – to ensure it is like as original as possible.  The slogan “The original recipe” would be her benchmark for assessments.

Last night we were at a relatively new church and we noticed that the floors were scratched and pale in color. Irene felt that with proper maintenance such as regularly waxing the floor, the environment would     be more reflective of good management for a house of worship.

No 5 attribute of a great wife: 
Believes in regular maintenance to preserve property and things in their original “goodness” and does not let things deteriorate to unbearable levels before taking remedial action.

 
 
Cheers.
See you next week.

We welcome any comments. Do subscribe to this blog. It is FUN to have you with us.

Papa Coaching

Visit my other blog on life and executive coaching + retiring in bliss

http://liveinsignificance.wordpress.com

wife and mum extraodrinary: Wife and MUM 3/2011

wife and mum extraodrinary: Wife and MUM 3/2011: "Thursday 03 February 2011Last week I said that I am generally fascinated and occasionally frustrated by my wife. Does this mean that s..."

Wife and MUM 3/2011

Thursday 03 February 2011

Last week I said that I am generally fascinated and occasionally frustrated by my wife.  Does this mean that she has more strengths than faults. Em… good question.

Irene says that strengths and faults are two sides of the same coin. When all is fine and good, any comment is taken in with an open mind, posture and like a parachute lands safely on the runway of your mind. When the relationship is strained, a whisper becomes like a shout and a request is seen as a demand.

Irene was relating the incident between a wife and her husband.

Husband: Where is the toilet paper?

Wife: At the back of the cupboard.

Husband glared at the wife with blood shot eyes and …

Wife: You want to kill me over a toilet roll…

Apparently, the wife caught the husband on the verge of an affair. She is now watching the husband like a cat and everything he does looks like a rat. Every move is a rat. Every actions smells like a rat coming out of the rat hole. Every opportunity to check on the mobile phone log record is taken with the meticulous attention of a detective dusting for the fingerprints of potential “husband stealers”.

WOW! Irene says that when the wife finds the rat she is unhappy and throws a tantrum because there is the other woman stealing her man. When she cannot find the rat she is unhappy because there is no other woman and she wants a rat. Poor CAT lady.

You want more of such stories – go to the beauty salon and catch up the happenings in town.

Now coming back to advice on good marriage relationship from Irene:

1. Do not argue with your wife.

The wife always gets the last word in any argument between a husband     and wife. Anything a husband says afterwards is the beginning of a new
argument.

2. Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, and half shut afterwards.

Just before marrying Irene I saw this plague and bought it. It reads “Finding the right person before marriage is important. Being the right person is more important”

So what type of person is Irene? Let’s talk about her after the Lunar Chinese New Year.

For this coming Chinese Lunar New Year of the RABBIT, Irene and myself wish all our readers A Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year. Do remember that,

Every Year is a Good Year.

Do Make the Rabbit Year the Best for yourself by:

(R)ecognizing,

(A)ffirming,

(B)elieving the

(B)eauty

(I)nside

(T)hee 

You are the storyteller of your own life. You can write your own story, chart your own life and create the legend you want.

No 4 attribute of a great wife: Tell Good and Interesting Stories.

 
 
Cheers.
See you next week.

We welcome any comments. Do subscribe to this blog. It is FUN to have you with us.

Papa Coaching

Visit my other blog on life and executive coaching + retiring in bliss

http://liveinsignificance.wordpress.com